The journey continues ...

Ooops!  I must apologize for another late blog entry.  I have been busy making lots of new things (honest!) but I just haven't got round to taking pictures of them.  I have also been working on some ideas for possible contest entries and some of those will need to stay under wraps for a little while longer.  Anyway, the big news that I hinted at last time was that it looks like I am going to take the plunge and try my hand at teaching.  When I first started beading, I never imagined that I would sell anything, let alone have a project published and the thought of teaching seemed like an impossibility to me, but step by little step, things are progressing.  Despite my internet persona, I am actually a nervous bunny who lacks confidence, but this opportunity has presented itself to me and I know that I need to at least give it my best shot.  I think the thing that I have come to realise is that although I believe in the power of positive thinking, I am also a realist and no amount of visualising myself as a confident tutor with a rapt class of students is going to make it real.  I am nervous, I will shake, I will stutter, I will drop beads, but that is the way I am, and I am hoping that embracing all of those sometimes annoying human traits rather than denying them, will make for a fun and friendly class.  The details are still being worked out, but hopefully I will be teaching the versatile flower shown below at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Limited later this year and I will post exact details here when I know them.

Oh and before I go, I wanted to show you this Treasury West I managed to grab on Etsy on Friday. I saw this beautifully bright bag my friend Claudette of Moonflower 20 Creations made, and I found it so uplifting on a gloomy day, that I went off in search of other cheerful items to complement it and this was the result ...

Right, that's it for this week.  I have some beads to order and then it's back to beading samples, writing instructions and working on the dreaded diagrams.  See you next week!

Colour conundrums!

I heard recently that the issue of Bead magazine that Maid Marian's Quiver is scheduled for, is going to be a 'colour special' and so I have been doing a lot of thinking about colour.  Of course I often think about colour when choosing beads for a new project, but this time I have really been questioning my approach to those choices and trying to gain some level of understanding about the use of colour.  I think I have said before, that I am not a natural when it comes to choosing colours.  I know what I like to look at and what appeals to me, but when it comes to actually choosing the right beads for a project, well, I struggle.  I think I am beginning to realise that the form of the beadwork could be more exciting to me than the colour.  When I have an idea for a new project, I first envisage the shape, the stitches that might work and the mechanics of creating that piece and that's when I can't wait to get started.  The next step usually involves rummaging around my bead drawers, pulling out a main colour that would probably work and then struggling to find something that I think goes with it.  This stage often takes far too long for my liking and can dull my enthusiasm, and for me, it doesn't seem to be getting any easier with practice.  All this thinking has given me a few ideas regarding the use of colour in beadwork though, so if you want to know what they are, make sure you get your copy of the April 2010 issue of Bead magazine!

On the subject of Bead magazine, issue 19 is now available and has my Mistletoe Earrings project on page 12, a picture of Maid Marian's Quiver on page 81 and a sneak preview of my Pearls In The Net project on page 119.

Staying with colour, I managed to create a couple of Etsy treasuries at the end of last week.  One was to showcase the work of some of my fellow Etsy Midlanders teammates, and the other was just for the fun of it.  I always like to have some kind of theme for my treasuries and so this time, colour was the obvious choice!

Right, that's it for this week and now it's back to the beads and racking my brain about what goes together and what doesn't.  Let me know your thoughts on using colour and whether you find choosing colours plain sailing or like me, feel that sometimes it can be the hardest part of beading ...

Fifteen Flowers ...

My recent work on a new range of floral earrings meant I needed to make much smaller flowers than normal. I find it quite a challenge to get in lots of detailed shaping and still keep the flowers dainty enough to be wearable. Last weeks bluebells were made using size 11 cylinder beads and each bluebell is only 1½cm high. This lead me to want to make not necessarily even smaller flowers but to be able to get more detail in - hence I have splashed out on some delicious new size 15 seed beads in a range of gorgeous colours. As you can see, pinks and greens are the predominant colours I have gone for and these tiny little beads look as though they will be perfect for my future experiments with all things floral. Looks like I will finally have to give in and wear those glasses I have been avoiding for months though!

On the subject of bluebells, it's expired now, but I managed to create another Etsy treasury this week 'She sells bluebells' - which of course I do! I am not comfortable including my own work in treasuries and so I searched for other artist's work with 'bluebell' in the title and look what beautiful items I came up with!

Late bluebells ...

The bluebells here in England this year put on a real show and my favourite area of woodland was covered by a scented carpet of them. I had never really thought about beading them before, but when I bent to look closely at them, I was fascinated by how delicate each little individual flower that goes towards making up the total impact is. I went against the country code and picked a couple of stems (in the name of art you understand!) and kept them in a small vase in my studio so that I could follow them as closely as possible. Of course the real bluebells have all gone now, but finally, after nearly two weeks of trial and error, I have some little beaded bluebell earrings to show you.

I chose a semi-matte cylinder bead in a cobalt blue with an AB finish,which seemed quite close to the colour and feel of a real bluebell and added three of them to each earring to create a cluster. Once again, I have used long sterling silver earwires so that you get a lot of movement when you are wearing them, just like my 'Swingin' Poppies' and I've also added to the series by creating some 'Swingin' Daisies' too.

All three pairs of earrings are for sale in my Etsy store.

Awards, treasuries and a blog feature ...

I'm afraid there is no new beadwork to show this week, but rest assured I AM beading and working on a project that needs to be kept under wraps for a while - she says mysteriously! There's still plenty to blog about though. Firstly, the Beads Perles blog has given me the honour of being their 100th featured artist . The top part of the interview is in Spanish, but if you scroll down past the photos, there is an English translation. Thank you Beads Perles!

I've also had my work included in two Etsy treasuries in the last few days. The first one 'Magic and Mystery', was put together by Lynn Davy and features my Double Dragon neckpiece which is shown on the top left. Thank you Lynn!

The second treasury 'Needle and Thread' is still live and was curated by Alice of snapdragonbeads My Peacock Pearl spiral rope necklace is shown on the top right. If you click on the image it will take you to the actual treasury. Thank you Alice!

Finally, Jodi Horgan of The Beaded Path has passed on not one, but TWO blog awards to me. Thank you Jodi! I tend not to pass blog awards on as I hate to leave anyone out, so I would encourage you to check out the links in my side-bar for lots of inspirational blogs.

Swingin' Poppies ...

Things are still pretty hectic around here but I have managed to do a little bit of beadwork at last! First is my new range of earrings featuring ultra long sterling silver kidney earwires. The earwires themselves are nearly 5cms long and so once the flowers are added the earring is approximately 7cms from tip to tip. First in the range is Swingin' Poppies featuring a cute pair of little handwoven poppies in dramatic red and black.

I have a pair of these myself and although I wouldn't normally wear such long earrings, I have to say that as the wires are so thin and barely noticeable, you just get the effect of little flowers dancing round your neck - it feels great and very summery! I know they are not very clear, but here's a picture of me wearing my Swingin' Poppies.

I also made myself a pair of earrings to match a new blouse I bought for my holiday. I just happened to have some cylinder beads in almost exactly the same shade of green as the blouse and then I found some tiny freshwater pearls that seemed to complement the dots in the blouse perfectly. They are made using a combination of brick stitch and netting and hang from sterling silver Creole hoops.

Flowers everywhere ...

I'm still busy working on my entry for the Etsy Beadweavers challenge - Tropical Holiday. My piece will include some beaded flowers as usual, but I am trying out a new shape for me which is taking a bit longer than I thought, so I still don't have any pictures to show you. In the meantime, I believe the new issue of Beadwork magazine is now out and my icy blue and silver Frosted Flower necklace is one of the projects in there.

I also thought I'd brighten things up by showing you a picture of an Etsy treasury that fellow British bead artist Lynn Davy put together. It includes my 'red violet floral cufflinks' and is entitled Summer in the Meadow - isn't it pretty? Thank you Lynn!

Christmas and New Year wishes ...

Well 2008 has been an amazing year for me. Some recent low points such as redundancy and family illness, but mostly it has been a wonderful journey full of beady goodness. This was the year that I set up a website, an Etsy shop and started a blog - all quite alien things to me. I had my first design published and went on to have 16 projects published throughout the year and even made the cover of Bead & Button magazine. I found lots of fantastic new friends all over the world, either through beading or blogging and even found my best friend from school through Facebook after having lost touch with her many years ago. With the help of Beading Daily and my blogging friends, I raised a significant amount of money for various charities with my beaded Ribbon Awareness Pins. I learnt a great deal about beading and opened my eyes to some new possibilities which I can't wait to try in the New Year and I discovered many, many talented bead artists whose work excites and inspires me. All in all, a great year which I am very thankful for!

I hope life has been kind to you and that you were able to make the most of the opportunities that presented themselves to you. And finally, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I would like to wish everyone happiness and health and I look forward to 'seeing' you in 2009!

Kerrie x

The power of beading and the power of the internet community!

I hadn't intended to blog again until after the finish date of the Power of Beading Contest & Charity Fundraiser as I thought it would make it easier for people to access the details. But ... I have had so much great support from my fellow beaders that I felt a little credit was due. So, in no particular order, here are the links to some of my 'bead buddies' who have kindly spread the word for me via blogs etc.

SuzyQ of Beadweaver

JoJo of Unique You

Alison of BeaDangles Jewellery

Bianca Velder of Bianca Velder Creations

Margot Potter of The Impatient Blogger

Tammy of Butterfly Beadwear

Christine of ChrisBeads

Caroline of Crafted Gems

Jo of Daisychain Designs

Lorraine of Lorraine's Place

Zoya Gutina of Gem and Beaded Jewelry and also Zoya's August newsletter

Jean Power of JeanPower.com

Susan of Clinkscales Arts

Smadar of Smadar's Treasure

Sarah of The Beaded Lily

Anna of A Rose By Name

Staci of Pink Pooch Designs

Marilyn of Grandma Marilyn's

Deb of Artistic Flair

Ileana of Enchanted Beads

A huge "Thank you!" goes out to each and every one of them and if I have missed you off the list, or you have blogged about it, or put a link on your website, and I don't know, just send me a reminder and I will add your link to the list.

Don't forget the instructions are still available to purchase via Beading Daily and ALL funds raised go to charity. The contest to win one of two pins beaded and donated by me runs until September 12th.

Other news is that the October issue of Bead & Button is now out and the instructions for my Double Dragon neckpiece are on page 50.

I have also been fortunate to have several pieces of work included in various Etsy treasuries and although it has now expired, I curated a treasury with the title 'Raising Awareness!' to complement my fundraising project and to highlight the many other Artists on Etsy who create awareness ribbon themed items to raise money for charity.

Rebellion!

One of the problems with only blogging once a week, is that so much happens within a single week! This week has seen a wonderful mixture of Etsy treasuries, blog awards, publications and the odd bit of beading when I get chance. So this week, I have made a decision to be a bit of a rebel. I have been very fortunate in that I have received three blog awards this week but I have decided to buck the trend and NOT pass them on - gasp! There are a few reasons for this, firstly, I notice that some of these awards are doing the rounds within a relatively small group of acquaintances and they keep ricocheting from blog to blog. Secondly, it would take me a fair amount of time and space to add 15 links to other blogs here (especially if I wanted to spread them outside the beady circle) and thirdly, as much as I love finding that I have received an award, it is quite difficult selecting who to pass it on to without offending anyone and making anyone feel left out. So I am not going to be passing any of these awards on this time, but rather would urge you to follow the links on my side-bar to discover many talented people.

To be fair to the people that kindly passed the awards on to me though, here are the links to their blogs; I received the Arte y Pico award from two talented friends, Susan of Clinkscales Arts and Emma of Glitter Glow Beading who are both fellow Etsy BeadWeavers team members. I also received the Sweet Home Blogger Award from the lovely Lesley of Coburg Crafts. A big thank you to all three of them and I hope you follow the links to see their wonderful work for yourself.

 

My work was featured in a couple of Etsy treasuries during the last week and I managed to snag and create one myself too. I decided to try and show just how truly cosmopolitan the Etsy BeadWeavers team is and featured work from America to Australia and just about everywhere in-between in my World Wide Weavers treasury.  I was also very flattered that the Etsy BeadWeavers team ran a little feature on me this week in the team blog in their Meet the Members slot and also included a link to the interview I did in March of this year on the jewelry guide section of Zoya Gutina's website.

Finally for this week, I noticed that Beadwork magazine has updated it's website with the contents of the August/September issue. I have two projects in this issue, my Olive Earrings and also my Periwinkle Choker - this was originally named Precious Petals and I have included a picture of the gunmetal colourway below.

Dragonfly Dreams

I'm still busy making a variety of small flowers for earrings rather than concentrating on any large projects at the moment. Life seems to be quite hectic just lately, and so these little projects are still satisfyingly beady but quick enough to fit in around other commitments. I have been branching out with my colour schemes a little too - I'm still using a limited range of colours in each piece (well it just wouldn't be me otherwise would it!) but the colours I have been putting together are a little bit more experimental. I have just finished a pair of earrings I made for myself, I don't often wear my own jewellery despite my friends nagging me to do so, and the inspiration for the colours in these is a pretty top I have - it's a busy mix of teal, turquoise, coral, bright red and yellow green and I absolutely love it.

We are going to a live music concert tomorrow night at the Lowdham book festival to see Show of Hands and so I thought I would wear my favourite top and make myself some coral and teal earrings to go with it. The only beads I had that were a good match to the top were some tiny size 15 seed beads that I once ordered by mistake (I normally work with the slightly larger size 11 seed beads) and so I have been experimenting with petal shapes using the smaller size - a success I think, but my eyes definitely need a break now and my purse is quivering at the thought of me possibly wanting to build up a collection of size 15's! The photo above shows the raw materials and the photo below is of the finished pair of earrings.

It's been a busy week on Etsy this past week too. I was thrilled to find my work in five beautiful treasuries and I created my first treasury too - Dragonfly Dreams. As I understand it, you are not supposed to feature your own work in a treasury that you curate, it is more to acknowledge and promote other Etsy members, so I created my treasury around a dragonfly theme with a mixture of beadwoven pieces from the Etsy Beadweavers team (of which I am a member) and other delightful handmade items I found - a couple of which also use my new favourite coral and teal colour combination! I enjoyed searching through Etsy to find items to fit my theme and discovered lots of wonderful talent in the process and I'm looking forward to 'snagging' a spot for my next treasury which also has a fun theme!

From hot to icy and back to warm!

It looks like it's 'blog day' again today - the sun is shining, the garden is full of flowers and I have some more flowery pictures to show you ... some natural and some beaded!

First of all; we went to Lea Gardens in Derbyshire at the weekend which is renowned for it's rhododendrons and azaleas. Some of them were past their best and others had been damaged by all the rain we've had recently, but there were still lots of bright and brilliant blooms everywhere and the woodland walk area was filled with the scent of the lily of the valley. It was a lovely day out, the weather was perfect and we spent quite some time sat in the sun at the seating area at the tea rooms which overlooks the whole valley, drinking coffee and eating yummy chocolate cake too. If you look closely at their website you may spot a picture of me at the tea rooms taken some years ago!

On the beading front, I have finished the blue flowers that were shown as a 'work in progress' on my last blog post and created my Frosted Flower Fall necklace. In contrast to the hot summery picture above, this is a winter themed necklace with three icy blue flowers worked in various sizes. They each have a frosted sterling silver bead centre and I have just hung them simply from a sterling chain and clasp. It is hanging from a bust beside me as I type and I must admit I am pleased with it - very simple but also quite elegant I think ... I'd love to know what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Finally for today, I have discovered that my Copper Hibiscus lariat is in an Etsy treasury with the fun title of - Cockney Grasshopper - can you guess???? It's COPPER! It's a beautiful warm collection of wonderful coppery tones and blacks and mine is the only beadwoven piece ... and (oh dear) the most expensive!

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go!

Yes the latest issue of the UK magazine Bead is out and the second of my series of pendants, Frog Pendant, is one of the projects in there. This one is worked in Peyote stitch using a beautiful shade of green cylinder beads with an AB (Aurora Borealis) finish which gives them that 'glittering lake' look - well to me anyway! This little pendant, complete with pink lily and golden frog is actually part of a set I made called 'Lilies on the lake' - some magical moments spent in King Gardens in Phuket (during what I can only now describe as 'a former life') inspired me to create this.

Don't forget everyone - if you follow this pattern you are welcome to send me a picture of your work and I will gladly add it to my 'Readers gallery of work' The final pendant in the series, Dragonfly Pendant will be in Bead issue 11.

What else has happened during this past week? Oh yes, I received my lovely new SRAJD logo (Self-Representing Artist Jewelery Designer) which I am proudly displaying here on my blog and also on my website. See here for an explanation of the scheme.

I have also become a member of the Etsy Beadweavers Team recently and I am very pleased to be a part of this team as it is proving to be a fantastically talented and supportive group of people. I was fortunate to have my Foxglove Trio necklace included in another Etsy treasury a few days ago, which solely featured some of the members work. Although it has expired now, I have included a picture below as I think it is one of the prettiest treasuries I have seen so far - although obviously I am slightly biased ;-)